The Court of Souls?

“Yggdrasil or ɪɡdrəzɪl from Old Norse Yggdrasill, is an immense mythical tree that connects the nine worlds in Norse cosmology.”

- The Journey to the Afterlife

***Dedessia, the Sea of Souls***

***Succubus, 5 years old***

Something shakes me and I awaken. Drowsily I open my eyes. My view is taken up completely by a granny's face. She is kneeling in front of me, studying me with a raised eyebrow. Her wrinkly skin and the white hair are in total contrast to the strong grip with which she is holding my hand. Upon taking in her physique I realize that she isn't affected by age, her skin isn't wrinkly. Those are scars. Countless scars are covering her skin.

“How are you feeling?”

My eyes wander down to my chubby hand in hers and then to the comfy chair I am sitting in. A child's hand. How am I feeling? Good and yet not good. There is definitely a problem, but I can't make out what it is.

“Who are you?” That's the first question which comes to mind.

A smirk creeps onto her face and a gasp escapes another person in the room. I turn my head to where the gasp came from and find a young pair there. A man and a woman. “And who are they?” For some reason the woman's expression turns pained, but she says nothing.

“The more important question is... who are you?” the scarred woman asks with a serious tone.

I return my attention to her and open my mouth to answer, but nothing comes to mind. Who am I indeed? I close my mouth again and study the unfamiliar room. Looks like I am inside a library. Strange. Why should I know what a library is, but not who I am?

Finally I draw the only sensible conclusion my mind can come up with. “Apparently I forgot.”

“You are in Dedessia, Limbo, the Afterlife, or even Hell for some. And you were born to my daughter, Chloe, and her husband, Shawn. Our clan's name is Carissimi and I am its matriarch, Doreen.” The woman gestures at the two people who are supposedly my parents and then at herself.

Unwillingly my eyebrows knit together. “Why should someone be born in the Sea of Souls? I thought a soul simply floats there in a chaotic mesh of quantum possibilities until it spontaneously reforms and is snatched up by a suitable body. It's a purely statistical process.” The woman's expression turns strange and I realize what I've just said. “I have no idea where that just came from.”

She frowns and nods. “Dedessia is a dimension different from what your memories might prepare you for. Every great soul which dies out there in the multiverse lands here to remember its origins. The longer you stay alive and the more you remember here, the more you can take with you to the next life. The only ones you can't take with you are those you made in Dedessia,” the woman explains.

It sounds familiar, but I can't touch my hands on the memory. “So what you are saying is that I have a problem because I don't remember who I am?”

She shakes her head. “No. Not at all. Nobody remembers everything from the start. There are people who remember more and people who remember less. Even if you remember nothing at first the memories and your original personality slowly return with time. That's a gradual process which can't be avoided. For that reason we perform a ritual on every child at the age of five and try to awaken the original personality.”

She turns her gaze towards my supposed parents. “It's easier for everyone that way.”

“So there was another me before you performed this ritual? What happened to her?” I ask.

“That other personality is gone. But like I said it would have happened anyway sooner or later. That's why we activate the original as soon as possible. Imagine how hard it would be for your parents if you suddenly change at the age of fifteen or twenty, forgetting about them? It is hard enough for them as it is.” Her eyes wander to the two people.

I blink. “Okay. Let's say I simply believe you for now. What happens next?”

“You aren't in danger of forgetting any more. So you go home with your parents and learn to know them and this world. And when your memories return you tell us who you are and how you can benefit our clan,” Granny answers.

I decide to keep calling her Granny, for now. “So what happens if I don't have any useful skills?”

The old woman shakes her head. “That's impossible. Dedessia is a dimension for those beings who are above normal mortals. Never in my five thousand years staying here have I encountered a single normal farmer being reborn in this world. There are demons, faun, fairies, dragons, archmages and other creatures from various mythologies. In addition to their old memories everyone inherits the true nature which is most suitable for them. And that sentence just before, that's knowledge only very few mythical creatures possess. You are at the very least some kind of immortal being. But I can already see the next question in your eyes. I am a fury. Your mother is a succubus and your father is an ogre.”

I wet my lips and reach between my legs. At this point I don't care what others might think about me. “I am a girl.” It's always good to have confirmation when in doubt. “So I hope having an ogre as a father won't make me sprout hair from my nose and warts on my cheeks?”

That broke the ice and Granny starts laughing uncontrollably.

“Gods, dear I hope not!” My supposed mother steps closer and hugs me. I notice her godlike beauty for the first time. Silver hair and a neat face combine perfectly with a curvy body. I mistook her horns for trinkets since they are mostly hidden by her hair. And the lower part of her dress are actually wings which are neatly folded around her hips.

“I don't look that bad in my demon form. And both succubi and ogres can shapeshift. You must have inherited at least that skill,” Father complains. He is on the average side of things with short, brown hair and a round but nice face. Which surprises me. How did he get his hands on a succubus?

I feel up and down my own body and touch my back. “But I seem to be a normal human.”

“You will transform according to the image you have of yourself when you reach the age of fifteen. From then on you will be able to freely change between the human image you have of yourself and your true one,” Chloe explains.

“Yes, let's perform the test before you leave. It looks like she is taking it well enough. No reason to wait.” Granny walks over to a table to get a crystal orb. “This is a device which can give us a hint at your true nature. It's expensive, so try not to break it please? The one who gave me this lives a three month trip away from here. Place your hand on it.”

I eye the device with suspicion. “Why do you say 'hint' as if it could come back and bite you later on?”

Doreen smiles and takes my hand to put it on the orb. “Oh, you are a smart one. I say that because this device is very limited and can't show us the true nature of higher immortals like gods and other deities. Instead it will just show us the nature which is closest to you. I am one of the Erinnyen for example, a deity of revenge. If I use the orb, all I get is that it identifies me as some kind of malevolent spirit.”

“I understand,” I answer and place my hand on the orb. It starts glowing in various colours, but that's all there is to it.

Granny sighs. “That's what I feared when you blurted out that sentence about the Sea of Souls. It identifies you as some kind of succubus/angel hybrid.”

“Does that mean she is a god? That would be a great addition to the clan,” Shawn asks hopefully.

Doreen shakes her head. “For now it just means that she isn't some simple low. But if I interpret the colours correctly then she is soulbound. Her soul is incomplete. But don't worry, if you really share a soulbond with someone, then your mate is bound to show up sooner or later.”

“My mate? And what's a low?” I ask astounded.

“Well, yes. A soulbond is a very intimate thing. Whoever you are bound to, he or she should be your perfect counterpart,” Doreen explains while smiling.

“She? Stop pulling my nose! I am not into girls!” I answer confidently.

Doreen shrugs her shoulders. “If you say so. And as for the former question, we classify the beings who are brought here in several groups. There are those who are nothing more than immortals. They remember their past lives and have superior knowledge. Usually they are some kind of heroes or kings. Then there are lower immortals. Mythical beings with powers. Vampires, fae and spirits count as such. Then we have middle immortals. They have some kind of affiliation to a god or deity, or are weak deities themselves. Finally there are higher immortals like me. They are gods or major mythical beings of some kind.”

Then Doreen ends the lesson. “You should go now. I don't have all day to play with you.”

“Of course, Mother. Let's go, Elona.” Chloe bows to Doreen and picks me up. Shawn also excuses himself and opens the door for Chloe and me. We leave the library and walk through a living area.

“Elona?” I ask a little surprised.

Chloe tenses up and presses me closer. “That's what I called you before... and since you don't remember I thought we simply keep using it.”

Elona feels wrong for some reason. Though I will need a name and in absence of my real name. “Okay. I am Elona.”

Shawn opens a final door for us and we step outside into a howling wind. Chloe raises one of her wings to protect me from the stinging sand which is blown at us. Then she starts walking with purpose towards the trunk of a huge tree. The road on which we are moving, the people, the different houses, all that is insignificant compared to the tree. It is huge! “What is that!”

“That's an offshoot of Yggdrasil. Not much more than a sapling. Mother brought it from one of her travels before she founded this clan. It protects our oasis in this desert by warding off dangerous creatures and pulling up water from the ground to allow plants to grow. Without it the clan wouldn't be able to exist here,” Chloe explains.

I force my eyes away from the huge plant. “That's the second time you mention a clan. What's up with that and these beasts? I thought we are all some kind of super powerful beings? And why living in a desert?”

Shawn cuts in from the side. “Dedessia isn't a paradise. The resources are sparse and no matter how far you wander, all you encounter are climates at their extremes. Hot deserts, icy mountains, swamps, green and unbound jungle. It is like this plane wants to test us, send us on to our next life as fast as possible. The hospitable areas are small and few in between endless nightmares to live in. Add to that a flora and fauna which is taken from the deadliest places you can imagine. The only ones who live here exist in those small safe areas or created their own hideouts like us.”

Chloe continues. “That's why you won't find something like a kingdom or a nation. The biggest community I know of has only about a hundred thousand people and they live far, far to the east. And that's just because their safe zone is particularly big. Every community is its own clan and from other clans comes the biggest danger. Some of them specialize in stealing the resources of others to survive. They go on raids to kill and plunder whatever isn't strong enough to withstand them.”

“I see,” I say solemnly.

Big tree or not, this world sucks! Big time!

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